Colorado peak questions, condition requests and other info.
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peter303 wrote: ↑Thu Jul 27, 2023 5:50 pm
You probably want to time your hike to pass through the keyhole at dawn. (6AM late August) The first part of trail is easily followed class 1 trail with a head lamp until mid boulder field. Then an obvious class 2 scramble up to the keyhole notch. After the keyhole the best ledges are marked by red and yellow dots. I recommend traversing that part in daylight. On August weekends you just follow the conga line also. One such hike I counted all the people I passed going both ways. It was almost 900. The only significant congestion was in the trough. You have to look for falling ricks from the people above you.
+1. I would not want to ascend beyond the Keyhole in the dark.
I have never been on a Saturday. I am guessing that if you could postpone until after Labor Day then there would be fewer people.
In terms of parking, you might be able to park in the lot before dark and sleep for a few hours in your vehicle before hitting the trail early. Would save you paying a lot of money for a very short night in a hotel/motel (assuming that was your other option). Other people could speak to whether that is allowed at Long's Peak TH or not.
You could also camp in the boulder field, which would put you way up high ahead of most of the crowds the morning of your climb. You definitely need a reservation for that; not sure when those are available. My brother and nephew did that and it worked well for them.
It makes for a bit longer day, but you can take the North Longs Peak trail from Glacier Gorge. You’d still want to get a 2:00 or 3:00 AM start, but parking is less of an issue at that lot. You’ll meet up with the standard route at Granite Pass.
viejo wrote: ↑Sun May 11, 2025 6:20 pm
It makes for a bit longer day,
Almost 5 1/2 miles longer round trip. Half of the time you're on that route, you're going away from the summit. You might as well take the Trough from Glacier Gorge at that point.
seannunn wrote: ↑Sun May 11, 2025 11:55 am
You could also camp in the boulder field, which would put you way up high ahead of most of the crowds the morning of your climb. You definitely need a reservation for that; not sure when those are available. My brother and nephew did that and it worked well for them.
Sean Nunn
Peculiar, MO
For that matter, the OP could camp at Goblin's Forest and not have to carry overnight gear quite so far. Sleeping at 10000' at Goblin's Forest would make for a much better night's sleep than sleeping at 12000' or higher in the boulder field.
ECF55 wrote: ↑Sat May 10, 2025 11:47 am
I'm still in planning phase for a trip to CO this summer. I am considering finishing the trip with a Longs attempt, but that would put it on a Saturday. This site has lots of comments that the trailhead parking lot spots fill up before 3am, so my start time goal would be to be on the trail before then. However, when the parking lot fills up, is that it, or do hikers park in some other overflow area? (The road to the parking lot doesn't look like it has any shoulders.)
There's lots of parking along the road.
Just mind the myriad of "no parking" zones scattered along the road (which may be harder to spot at o'dark-30). I believe there's no road side parking until ~1/4mi down from the lot, then a handful of small "keep out" zones.
But yes, lots of folks park along the road leading up to the lot, and in most cases it is legal.
We are planning a similar hike for mid-august. We have flexibility around which day - Does a Monday or Tuesday see significantly less traffic on the mountain? In case it matters our current plan is to go up the loft route, side hike up Meeker, summit Longs and then down the keyhole route.
VtStay wrote: ↑Mon Jun 16, 2025 12:22 pm
We are planning a similar hike for mid-august. We have flexibility around which day - Does a Monday or Tuesday see significantly less traffic on the mountain? In case it matters our current plan is to go up the loft route, side hike up Meeker, summit Longs and then down the keyhole route.
So long as you get an early start you should be able to get a parking spot on a Monday or Tuesday, but I've noticed the last two years it's become very busy on weekdays, especially in August. I would recommend a 3:00 am start or earlier.
